The dignitaries of the Abbey and of St Paul’s having, as it was said, refused permission to deposit the remains in either of these great national receptacles of the illustrious dead, it was determined that they should be laid in the ancestral vault of the Byrons.  The funeral, instead of being public, was in consequence private, and attended by only a few select friends to Hucknell, a small village about two miles from Newstead Abbey, in the church of which the vault is situated; there the coffin was deposited, in conformity to a wish early expressed by the poet, that his dust might be mingled with his mother’s.  Yet, unmeet and plain as the solemnity was in its circumstances, a remarkable incident gave it interest and distinction:  as it passed along the streets of London, a sailor was observed walking uncovered near the hearse, and on being asked what he was doing there, replied that he had served Lord Byron in the Levant, and had come to pay his last respects to his remains; a simple but emphatic testimony to the sincerity of that regard which his Lordship often inspired, and which with more steadiness might always have commanded.

The coffin bears the following inscription: 

Lord Byron, of Rochdale,
born in London, January 22, 1788;
died at missolonghi,
in western Greece,
April 19, 1824.

Beside the coffin the urn is placed, the inscription on which is,

Within this urn are deposited the heart, brains, etc. of the deceased
Lord Byron.

CHAPTER XLIX

The Character of Lord Byron

My endeavour, in the foregoing pages, has been to give a general view of the intellectual character of Lord Byron.  It did not accord with the plan to enter minutely into the details of his private life, which I suspect was not greatly different from that of any other person of his rank, not distinguished for particular severity of manners.  In some respects his Lordship was, no doubt, peculiar.  He possessed a vivacity of sensibility not common, and talents of a very extraordinary kind.  He was also distinguished for superior personal elegance, particularly in his bust.  The style and character of his head were universally admired; but perhaps the beauty of his physiognomy has been more highly spoken of than it really merited.  Its chief grace consisted, when he was in a gay humour, of a liveliness which gave a joyous meaning to every articulation of the muscles and features:  when he was less agreeably disposed, the expression was morose to a very repulsive degree.  It is, however, unnecessary to describe his personal character here.  I have already said enough incidentally, to explain my full opinion of it.  In the mass, I do not think it was calculated to attract much permanent affection or esteem.